Coffee (7 page)



“Knut?
Hi, this is Etty.”

“Hey
there! You finally crawled out from under your rock, ey? You
getting ready for the big date tonight?”

“Knut,
I’m sorry, I can’t go.”

“What?
Ah, com’on Etty! You can’t bail on me. I’ve been
counting on this. If you give me some piddly ass excuse, I’ll
never forgive you.”

“No,
Knut, this is big. I have an interview in Dallas. I have to go
tonight.”

“Tonight?
Dallas? What’s this all about? On Friday night?”

“Yea,
I know it’s kind of sudden, but it’s an interesting
opportunity and they wanted to talk to me right away.”

“I
guess! What company?”

“World
Investment Corp.”

“Never
heard of them. I can’t believe this. ”

“I’ll
tell you all about it when I get back. Really, I’m sorry.
Don’t take it personally, we’ll reschedule. I promise,
but right now, I have to run.”

“Why
didn’t you mention you were interviewing? Why the sudden
desire to get a job?”

“Knut,
trust me. I’m late. I gotta get ready. You know how these
head hunters work - they find their quarry and jump. It’s
part of the game. I’ll call you Monday or Tuesday. We’ll
set another date.”

Knut
stewed. “I should have known it was just a fantasy. I’ll
go away now and set up for another exciting night with Mantis.”

“Knut,
don’t do this. I’m serious.”

“I’m
holding you to next week. But don’t wait to call me Monday, I
want to hear from you after the interview - call collect. I’ll
be here in the lab most of the time.” After a pause, “Be
careful. It’s snowing. You driving to the airport?”

“Yea,
Concord. I’ve lived in the snow my whole life, I can handle a
flurry.”

“I
like you, you know, Etty.”

While
she would normally jab him with a snide response, she appreciated
the comment. She wished she could tell him everything, to get some
other advice. “Thanks, Knut. I like you too.”



Next
she called her mother in Nashua. Although she liked to call home
once a week anyway, she would never hear the end of grief if she
didn’t call before a trip.

“Hello?”

“Hi
Mom! You getting any snow there?”

“Hi
Etty! A little, and it’s sticking. They say 6 to 8 inches by
morning. What about you?”

“Same.
We have an inch or so already.” Then she wished she hadn’t
brought up the snow. “Hey, I only have a moment, but I wanted
to let you know I am going to Dallas.”

“Dallas?
Listen to you, the world traveler. Why Dallas?”

“A
job interview. I am looking into a company down there that does
Investment Finance, sounds really interesting.”

“Good
for you. How will you afford it?”

“Mom,
these big firms pay to fly people all the time. All expenses paid.
Nice hotel, the whole works.”

“Thanks
for letting me know. When’s the trip, next week?”

“No,
tonight, I’m leaving pretty soon in fact.”

“What?
Tonight? You can’t fly in weather like this!”

“Mom,
it’s never a problem taking off in snow, it’s only
landing that causes problems. I checked, it’s not snowing in
Dallas.”

“Funny,
but it’s snowing here! How will you get to the airport? I
hate that old car of yours anyway, especially in this!”

“Mom,
it’s okay. This is important. I’ll leave plenty of
time, and drive like an old lady.”

“That’s
what I’m worried about. I really don’t want you to go,
Etty. It’s Friday night, the weekend. I can’t imagine
this company can’t wait an extra day. Your interview is on
Monday, right?”

“No,
actually, it’s tomorrow morning. Look, I’m not
discussing this anymore. I just wanted to let you know. I’ll
call you from Dallas.”

“I
don’t know. I don’t like it.” She exhaled a full
chest of air into the phone. “... If I demanded you not to
go, would you stay?”

Etty
hesitated. “I... if you demanded? ... I guess so, Mom, but you
wouldn’t do that. This is my career, my life. I’ll be
done with my PhD pretty soon, and I need to get my name out there.”

“Well.
I suppose.”

“Mom,
I’ll be fine. I’ll call you tomorrow morning.”

“Call
me tonight. I don’t care how late you get in. Promise?”

“Okay,
I promise. I love you Mom.”

“Me
too. That’s why I worry.”



Knut
stared through Mantis at some Dunn and Bradstreet business names,
and nearly yelled his discovery. “World Investment
Corporation! It’s a subsidiary of Global Growers!” He
pushed Mantis aside, and felt for the phone. “What the hell
is she doing?”

He
waited while the phone rang, and finally clicked over to her
answering machine. “Com’on Etty, answer! Answer!”
Then, jamming his finger on the phone carriage, “Damnit. She
must have left.” He quickly dialed another number.

“Warren,
great, you’re there.”

“Knut?”

“Have
you talked to Etty today?”

“No.
Haven’t talked to her since Tuesday night. What’s up?”

“I
think she’s in trouble.”

Warren
pulled his feet off the table where he had been almost asleep,
trying to get through some financial reports. “What do you
mean?”

“Have
you talked to anyone from Global Growers today by any chance?”

“Global
Growers? Hell no. What’s going on?”

“Etty
is on her way to an interview in Texas with them. She wouldn’t
tell me anything, not even that it was Global.”

“An
interview in Texas? What, she left already?”

“Yea,
just tonight. She’s going down for the weekend. All she told
me is that she was interviewing with the World Investment
Corporation, and to ‘trust me’. Very strange.”

“That’s
part of Global Growers?”

“Right.
But she didn’t mention that part. Why would she suddenly do
something like this? After all we went through this week together?”

“Why
are you so worried, couldn’t she have connected with them as
part of her paper?”

“And
not tell me? And not tell you? Why would it be such a secret?
This is our friend, Etty! This is the woman who marched into your
office and convinced you in a short meeting to spend millions of
dollars. No, Warren, this is weird. Something is very strange.”

“Maybe,
but I wouldn’t get too excited.”

“Have
you talked to anyone since Tuesday about the trades? Anyone?”

“My
accountant has been ringing my phone off the hook, and I was pulled
into a rather interesting emergency meeting of the Trustees which
I’ll tell you about later. The only other thing, now that you
mention it, was a question from one of my clerks. She asked me
Etty’s name. Someone on the phone was asking who else was
involved with the trades.”

“What
did you say?”

“I
told the truth. Why not? I wasn’t going to lie or anything.
I just said Harriet Bishop devised the trade. You can’t hide
something that big for long, I figured it was someone from the
accounting office.”

“You didn’t wonder?”

“Hell,
Knut, my office is a mad house every second. It didn’t seem
like a big deal.”

“So,
someone was asking about her. That’s two odd things then.
Think about it Warren - if we are right, then Global was involved in
illegal trades. Now she’s going there? And she didn’t
say where? Maybe she didn’t know herself.”

“Harriet
Bishop not know where she was going? Knut, she doesn’t strike
me as the kind of woman who isn’t on top of everything she
does.”

“I’m
not kidding, Warren. It’s too strange. Either she had some
amazingly powerful reason not to tell me what was going on, or she
didn’t know, or both. I’m worried.”

“Have
some of your vodka and relax. She’ll be back Monday.”

“I
wish I’d asked you before, do you think our side of the trade
was illegal? That someone could charge us for playing ball with
criminals?”

“I
thought it might be possible, so I checked that out beforehand. I
got a go-ahead.”

“You
had permission? From whom?”

“I
called the S.E.C. guy who does our audit. I argued that you
couldn’t call it insider information because we were clearly
unrelated to either company. I also faxed over some of your stats on
coffee price history. He said it could still just be some
abnormalities. So he cleared it. He faxed me the notes he added to
our file. With that piece of paper in hand, I’ve got lead
underwear.”

“Why
didn’t you tell us?”

“Tell
you? Etty, and you too, were behind it 100% - I just had to check
for myself. Anyway, remember, I’m the one who goes to jail if
it’s illegal, not you or Etty. Etty’s a big girl, she
knows what she’s doing - that I feel sure.”

“I
don’t know, it doesn’t add up.”

“Then call them. Call Global Growers.”

“At
9pm on a Friday?” Then he thought. “Well, maybe I
will. And if I don’t get through, I’ll call tomorrow
morning. Etty must be having some kind of Saturday interview, so
someone must be there. I need to talk to her.”

“Saturday
interview? That is strange. Hey, here’s something. Some
information came over the wire today about Brazil - they’re
having serious political trouble.”

Knut
mumbled a response, but hardly listened as he still considered
possibilities for Etty.

Warren
continued, not as concerned as Knut over their mutual friend. “The
President of Brazil is on some kind of austerity program of
monumental proportion. He must not want to get re-elected. Listen
to some of these headlines,
President of Brazil Undermines
Welfare System Urging Poor to ‘Make it on their own’
,
President Barros of Brazil Supports 25% Tax Increase to Middle
Class
. And, the one that really surprised me,
Brazilian
President to Cut Military Salaries in Half
. The
Real
is
dropping like a stone. I would have had my face ripped off if I
kept my investment in Brazilian currency.”

Knut
hardly tuned into Warren’s news review, and hung up without
saying good-bye. He found the number for Global Growers in the
Dallas area code. He heard only a recording that the offices were
closed and that he should call back during normal business hours.



Etty
rummaged through her drawers and closet for some decent clothes.
PhD students rarely needed to dress up, so her collection of
business attire was limited. What she did find needed ironing. She
packed them anyway in a carry on bag, along with other necessities.
She figured she would buy clothes in Dallas if she needed more.

She
whipped off a description of the phone call on her computer
dissertation log. She scanned the long list of files. All that
work. She wondered how much she’d be able to resurrect, after
pulling out all mention of the market manipulation scheme. Such a
great idea, buried.

She
locked up and carefully negotiated the snowy back steps. Her
landlords’ faces watched out a well lit livingroom window,
which Etty acknowledged with a nod and a wave as she started the old
car. She heard the phone ring in her apartment above, but let it
go to the answering machine.

She
kept a cautious speed out the driveway and onto Trescott Ridge Road.
Her headlights reflected off a mantle of rapidly falling
snowflakes, reducing visibility to a few feet. Soon she pulled up
behind the tail lights of a vehicle, a jeep stalled in the middle of
the road. While considering whether to drive around, a figure
appeared through the white, a bulky man dressed in a thin gray
business raincoat. His sudden appearance so close startled her.
Something about him bothered her, his expression didn’t fit a
motorist in distress. Out of instinct, she shifted into reverse and
accelerated backwards.

“Hey!
Wait! Please!” came a muffled voice. “You’re
Harriet Bishop?”

She
stopped and tried to recognize the bulging ruddy face. He stepped
up to the window, and gestured for her to wind it down. She
refused. “Who are you?” she said.

“Bart
Maslow! George Leeson sent me!” She stared hard at his poor
attempt at a sincere, friendly face. He yelled too loudly,
misjudging the muting of the closed door. “He thought you
might not make it to the airport through all this snow!”

“Show
me some identification,” she yelled back, keeping her foot
poised over the accelerator. Bart pressed an open wallet against
the glass. ‘Bart Maslow, Head of Security, World Investment
Corp.’ She was about to ask why it had the name of the
company she’d been told was only a front, when she noticed the
company logo - bold lettering above a tiny green earth,
Global Growers
.

A
deluge of adrenaline sent her heart racing. A sketchy scenario of
unscrupulous deception came to mind. Without further thought, she
slammed down the pedal, but the spinning tires in the snow prevented
a lurching escape. The man’s face turned sour. He jerked
open the corroded door in his muscular hand. Her old car’s
seatbelt no longer worked, so he was able to wrench her by the back
of her coat and onto the road like a bag of clothes. Within
seconds, he had flipped her on her front, bound her hands in plastic
wrist restraints. He duct taped her mouth. Snow pushed onto her
face and up her nostrils as he roughly contained her writhing.

“There.
That’ll do it. Sorry ma’am, I was hoping you’d
come along more pleasantly. Now up you go.” A second car
pulled up behind hers. The two men inside stayed seated. Bart
retrieved Etty’s travel bag, and pushed her along toward his
jeep. He left Etty’s car where it was - door open and engine
running. After securing Etty in the passenger seat, he nodded to
the other men and jumped aboard. The four wheel drive easily sped
away from the hijack scene, while the snow filled in all traces.